User blog:ZariahGreene/Pre trip Reflection
In just a few days I will be traveling to Quilmes, Argentina for a Cultural Exchange. After being visited by a group of students attending Quilmes High School, I am excited to go there and experience their life rituals and routines. I am looking forward to practicing my Spanish. Being that it is the end of the year and school has drained all the ambition out of my body I am excited to be refilled with adventure, connections, and change of scenery. Throughout my sophomore year, my family experienced a lot of sickness and death and with these tragic happenings I dived into my Latina culture. My goal is to preserve it for my family after my grandmother passes. After working day after day listening to Spanish music and television I am excited to see my growth in real light. I am also looking forward to breaking out of my shell and experiencing foods and activities that at home I would usually attest to. As of right now I am mostly looking forward to seeing my friends again. Upon the arrival of the Quilmes Students my goal was to create connections with each of them, mostly because genuine and diverse connections is something I feel I lack in my community for a variety of reasons but a part of it is letting go and trying to develop those relationships. By the end of their visit my goal was complete. I had spoken to every student and had meaningful conversation with each of them. The downside to my goal happened to be that I missed all of them dearly. I am glad to say that I have spoken to many of them every day for the past four weeks. I am thrilled to continue the fun we started here in the United States. I am excited for the sightseeing in Buenos Aires and I am hoping that we will be able to see la Boca and people dancing in the streets. One concern for the trip is that my Spanish won't be good enough to communicate in the way I wish to. I am extremely talkative, loving, and caring and I hope I can show all those aspects of my identity with my level of Spanish. I hope to come back to the United States a more diversified human being. With the fourteen days that my student visited I learned twenty two new music artist, six new television shows, ate five new foods, six new words, and practiced my Spanish for a calculation of seventy- two hours. I wish that I would not change but aspects of my identity be revealed through this new experience. Having in mind that although this is a school oriented trip it is after we finish our sophomore year I feel this will allow me to be much more relaxed then I was when the Students visited Cary Academy. Not having to worry about about assignments and test will allow me to dive in to new relationships and activities and fully spend time with my host family. So far I have spoken to my host mom a few times and she is really funny which I am excited for. My mother and I have a very strong relationship and I spend a lot of time with her. This is something that I will miss about being home but I am looking forward to doing with my host mom. As far as my host dad I have not gotten the opportunity to interact with him much but he seems very nice. Many of the parents of the friends I met reached out to me and are planning a time to have dinner with me which I am very excited for because I am extremely family oriented. My sister traveled to Pilar in her second year and I am excited to be able to tell a different story. I can willingly admit that I am afraid of what I don’t know. Trying new foods has definitely been my greatest weakness in the United States for many reasons but I would like to hope that this fear will not hold me back in Argentina. I am fairly independent when I need to be. However, I am the youngest in my family and my sister and brother look after me just as much as I look after them. Being alone in a country that speaks a different language then I do without the people who know me better then I know myself is quite concerning. There will be no one to remind me to close my purse or not order a type of food on the menu because they know I will hate it. Maybe this will allow me to gain confidence in my decisions/ identity. Cary, North Carolina is a small state. Being around the same people and community bores me more than ever. I am excited to be around new people who share different opinions and cultural experiences. To know that these experiences could affect my thinking and way of life is impending aspiring thoughts. As I am writing this reflection and having to consider all the aspects of the trip that worries me, more and more concerns seem to pop into my head. I heard that many parents give their children Benadryl before they go on the plane so they can rest easier on the plane but my parents will not do that to me so that is scary. I am a very anxious when it comes to patterns, times and eating therefore having to follow someone else's schedule is frightening for me but I am excited. My fears are more like a thrill ride at an amusement park. You are fearful before the ride and even a little while you are on the ride but you can't help but smile and scream because you know the probability of anything happening is like 15%. Going to Argentina with my peers this summer is a safe thrill and although I am nervous I have never been more excited. IMG_3391.JPG|First Day with students in the USA IMG 3701.JPG IMG_3438.JPG|Movie night with the girls @parkwest IMG_3419.JPG|Lucia purchases her first Apple Iphone Category:Blog posts